Discovery Place: Fun, hands-on science

Thursday

Jun 27, 2013 at 12:01 AM

Discovery Place is the region's first children's museum. Opened in 1981 in downtown Charlotte, N.C., it's been a destination for bus loads of elementary school students in North and South Carolina ever since. But it's no dinosaur (although it has displayed them).

By JOSH CROTZERFrom Spartanburg Magazine

Discovery Place is the region's first children's museum. Opened in 1981 in downtown Charlotte, N.C., it's been a destination for bus loads of elementary school students in North and South Carolina ever since. But it's no dinosaur (although it has displayed them).Just three years ago, Discovery Place went through an overhaul that transformed it into a state-of-the-art science and technology museum.Discovery Place offers a modern experience that mixes educational and entertaining elements. It has an IMAX 3-D theater, live demonstrations and hands-on exhibits. The museum doesn't miss any opportunity to teach, but it's always disguised as something fun.One of the more popular exhibitions is Strange Matter, a hands-on lab that uses science to explore bizarre modern materials. Children are able to experiment with metals, foam, silicon and other materials, satisfying their natural curiosity and tactile instincts.Another featured exhibition, World Alive, takes “explorers” through various habitats and ecosystems including an aquarium and a rainforest replica that includes live reptiles, birds and frogs. It's also where Discovery Place's world-class collection of objects from the natural world are found.Cool Stuff is home to all the fun one can have with physics. For all the seeing, observing and touching that visitors can do in other areas, this exhibition is all about doing and experiencing, like launching objects through electromagnetic forces, challenging friends to a not-quite-fair game of tug of war or laying down on a bed of 4,000 non-dulled construction nails.The hands-on labs and interactive displays put visitors in the roles of biologist, archeologist, naturalist, architect and so on.“We all have an inner scientist and intrinsically want to explore, understand and ask why,” said Robert Corbin, vice president of learning experiences at Discovery Place. “We find ourselves pondering the mysteries of the world we live in. Any time we get the chance to dabble and explore, we learn new things.”Younger children aren't left out. Kid Science lets those not quite ready to grasp microscopes have fun-filled experiences of their own. “It's a great place to come and spend the afternoon,” said Cindy Lockwood of Charlotte, N.C., whose 6-year-old daughter Grace had just made a new friend while working on a giant Lite-Brite and 4-year-old son William was enjoying the oversized Legos in the Kid Science exhibit. “We have a membership, so we come here frequently.”Lockwood's membership includes unlimited visits to Discovery Place, the Charlotte Nature Museum and Discover Place KIDS in Huntersville and Rockingham, N.C. Discovery Place and the other venues have multiple membership options available.

With frequent visits like the Lockwoods make, an afternoon is sufficient. But Discovery Place can certainly fill an entire day, depending on how much piques a visitor's interest. Constructing a skyscraper from the thousands of wood blocks available at Project Build might sacrifice the time spent with creative activities offered in the Think It Up exhibit, like designing footwear or creating animation.Hands-on experimentation is fun, but watching the experts do it can be even better. Kids get to see someone else play with matches and other combustibles in the show Fired Up. They can cool down with Sub-Zero, a show that stars liquid nitrogen and Discovery Place's resident physicist.The museum's IMAX Dome Theatre is now showing the visually stunning natural history epic “Flight of the Butterflies,” which follows the migration of a monarch butterfly from Canada to Mexico, revealed by the 40-year scientific study of Dr. Fred Urquhart.

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